Makes me wonder whether anyone on this board has had any marine mammal encounters while kayaking. Any reports?

I've heard reports of encounters with sea lions in the SF bay delta and Sacramento river - some pretty far from the bay. One guy was fishing alone off the front of his bass boat, flet the boat rocking and found a sea lion had climbed onto his rear deck.

We see dolphins down here on the gulf nearly every time we go out. They are curious about the kayak's, especially in the gulf. Hook a fish while you're out there and they get REALLY curious!

Although not mammals, sea turtles are extremely common to see as well. Always a blast to see them come up the other way, turn around and find you there, freak out and dive. Cool thing about the kayaks is we sneak up on so much wildlife. If you're quiet (and we are) so much is seen. It's one of the really, really cool things about kayak (or PFC!)

I've had a few encounters.I was paddling back from a day of fishing when the water in front of me exploded. I think I startled a manatee and it thrashed then took off like a bat out of hell.Was pretty scary, when it thrashed it threw water up a good 6 or 7 feet into the air.

For some reason when I saw that my first thought was, "OH MY GOD A TIGER, I'M GONNA DIE". I don't know why a tiger was the first thing that popped into my head.

On our trips to Florida we had had manatees all around us very close. One of them raised up far enough to put its head on the back of my wife's outback. Scared the pee out of her...in fact she was heading to shore for that very purpose.

I fish in Biscayne Bay in Miami a lot and see tons of dolphins and manatee. On a recent trip I had one come close while fishing. I moved about 100 yards and the manatee came by again a half hour later (I could tell it was the same one by its markings). Fishing was slow, so I reeled in my lines. The manatee proceeded to nudge up against my kayak and bring his head right out next to me. I scratched his head and he spun on his belly for me to scratch him there. He stayed with me for about half an hour. Kept going from one side to the next. When I'd stop petting him, he'd nudge my kayak and spin me around slowly. It was an amazing experience. I should probably not admit to doing this as encounters with people are probably not the best, but this manatee clearly felt comfortable enough to search me out and hang around me for a long while. It made a bad day at fishing a phenomenal day.

My wife and I were able to get very close to beavers here in Canada. Usually they stay well clear of anything with a paddle, but they weren't afraid of the mirage drive at all. Here are two low quality videos, but we spent about an hour pedalling around with the beavers. A very cool experience!

We moved to N California decades ago, and it took me one salmon fishingtrip to get the salmon in quick at sea before the salmon became a meal for the seals. You learn quickly when a 30# King salmon gets shredded before it gets netted and brought on board.

My son has encountered hungry seals miles up stream on the Delta.

A guy, who builds wooden canoes had a new one trashed by a big seal with his wife doing a solo run in the Monterrey Bay area. She will not go into any coastal salt water after that event.

I plan to go to the protected Bodega Bay area with my FH Pathfinder and with my wife in our Oasis. An old salty yaker warned me to stay away from the east side of the bay by the restaurants and docks for the fishing boats. Big critters often climb aboard yaks looking for food or just to rest or take a nap.

TroutNoDoubt wrote:

Saw this video today of a sea lion strealing fish from some kayak fishermen.

Makes me wonder whether anyone on this board has had any marine mammal encounters while kayaking. Any reports?

I've heard reports of encounters with sea lions in the SF bay delta and Sacramento river - some pretty far from the bay. One guy was fishing alone off the front of his bass boat, flet the boat rocking and found a sea lion had climbed onto his rear deck.

River Otters. More curious than afraid, they will circle the boats and occassionally pop up and bark at you. In the event they have babies (kits), however, They'll show a lot of bluff and bravado as they approach the boats, barking loudly and repeatedly.

I was fishing Caladesi Island here in Dunedin, FL a few weeks ago and was lucky enough to get to pet a dolphin. It was only my third trip out in the PA and I have loved every minute of it might I add! I was fishing early morning very low light with no wind so it was completely silent. Then, I heard the infamous sound of the puff of air from a dolphin, a sound I hear on almost every fishing trip. I have been very close to dolphins many times, but this particular dolphin was very curious of my huge yellow boat! I saw his dorsal come out of the water and realized he was headed straight for me so I stopped peddling and remained completely silent and it actually swam right up along side my yak, close enough that it bumped the side, and allowed me to run my hand all the way down its back. It was probably 6 feet long full grown adult. It was a great experience and one I will never forget.

I take manatee rides about once a month here in tampa. It sucks. Especially when they sit on drop offs. The pro angler handles it very well. I have been bumped a good foot out of my seat. What can you do...you can only see so much when peddling in the dark.

300-pound California sea lion apparently made his way nearly 100 miles from San Francisco Bay up the San Joaquin River and into the heart of farm country, where a surprised farmer discovered him Monday morning sitting along a road in Merced County about half a mile from the nearest water.

The sea lion, healthy and now resting at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, is expected to be released back to the wild.

California Highway Patrol officers raced to the scene to find the marine mammal on the shoulder of Henry Miller Road, north of Los Banos. While patrol officers waited for help from wildlife experts, the animal sauntered over to a CHP car, jumped up on the trunk and lay down.

"You can imagine it was an unusual sight -- a California sea lion sunning itself on the back of one of our patrol cars out here in the valley,'' said Mike Panelli, CHP public information officer in Los Banos.

State Fish and Game Department officials said they believe the animal wasn't dumped but traveled on his own, probably chasing fish up the San Joaquin River. Sea lions can travel 15 to 20 mph in the open ocean, and, unlike the awkward harbor seals, they are mobile on land.

On Sunday, someone reported to the California Department of Parks and Recreation a sighting of a sea lion at the former Fremont Ford Recreation Area, now part of the Great Valley Grasslands State Park, where Highway 140 crosses the San Joaquin River east of Gustine, about 15 miles from where he was rescued.

Brambo wrote:

Sea lions on the CA delta are bad. I have lost allot of striper and salmon to them. They come 100's of miles up river on the Sacramento and Feather. Up as far as redding near lake Shasta we get them.

There is a spot on the American river you can legally night fish for salmon. Had a sea lion come half in my boat to see if I had a fish in the middle of the night. Scared the crap out of me.